Star
An orange giant and the brightest star in Indus, sometimes called the Persian.
| Type | Star |
|---|---|
| Distance from Earth | 98 ly |
| Diameter | 16,712,200 km |
| Mass | 3.98 × 10³⁰ kg |
| Temperature | 4,620°C |
| Apparent magnitude | 3.11 |
| Redshift | 0 |
| Hemisphere | Southern |
| Discovered | 1597 |
Stars spend most of their lives fusing hydrogen into helium in their core, and it's the balance between that outward pressure and gravity pulling inward that fixes how big and how bright a star gets.
At 16,712,200 km across, Alpha Indi is 12 times the diameter of the Sun.
Its mass is 2.0 times the mass of the Sun.
The light reaching us from Alpha Indi tonight left it around 98 years ago.
Its surface sits at 4,893 K, cooler than the Sun at 5,772 K, which is what sets its colour.
It has been on record since 1597.
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